Truckers acquire holding bays as panacea for gridlock 

Tayo Oladipupo    |

Haulage operators under the auspices of Council of Maritime Transport Union and Association (COMTUA) have commenced move to acquire holding bays in furtherance to easing gridlock along the ports corridors in Lagos.

COMTUA has also reaffirmed its readiness to work with government agencies in decongesting the highways of articulated trucks leading to the seaports, even as it said it has already secured a parking lot at Ijora.

Coordinator of the group, Comrade Stephen Okafor said the call up system introduced by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in line with the holding bays will address the lingering traffic along the access road.

Okafor who is also the Operations Manager, Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), noted that members of COMTUA have put in place measures whereby truck owners will pay a daily fee of #10,000 to the body adding that the fee is considerate compared to the alleged #70,000 bribes paid to security agencies along the corridors.

The coordinator added that truck owners under the group have complied with the call up directive by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and a 10-man committee has been set up to identify parks that can be registered for the project.

He said that COMTUA has secured Koro park at Ijora with a capacity of 1000 trucks, adding that the group is all out to scout for more parks where truck waiting until they are called up to lift or return consignments from the ports.

Okafor averred that the committee will scout for more holding bays within the state to ameliorate issues bothering on extortion, harassment and delay in cargo clearance.

He noted that COMTUA will take charge of the parks that are secured, in a view to address challenges on the road.

“With one park at our disposal now we can tell you that issue of traffic on the corridors are gradually easing off.

“By the time we get more of these parks then issue of traffic and extortions on the port access roads will be a thing of the past”, Okafor stated.

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